Oil spill hits Gulf Shores and Orange Beach

View full size(Press-Register/Bill Starling)Andrea Larson, 14, (far left) her mother Denise (center) and sister Jessica, 17, dig through a patch tar balls on the Public Beach in Gulf Shores Tuesday, June 22, 2010.

The massive Gulf oil spill made its presence felt along Alabama's coastline again Tuesday, from gooey slop on Baldwin County beaches to new lawsuits filed in court to worries about the possibility of the first named hurricane of the Atlantic season.

As the spill -- sparked April 20 when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded -- entered its 65th day, moist, brown goop washed ashore along a stretch of the Gulf Shores public beach.

In nearby Orange Beach, the shoreline near Cotton Bayou and Romar Beach took its "fair share of tar," said Orange Beach Coastal Resources Manager Phillip West.

Onshore cleanup efforts continued along the coastline, although rainy weather and lightning on both sides of Mobile Bay impeded the work.

A spokesman for oil giant BP PLC confirmed that the state unemployment agency continues to accept applications for oil spill cleanup jobs at its offices, Alabama Career Centers or online at www.joblink.alabama.gov.

In Bayou La Batre, about 25 Vietnamese fishermen discussed their concerns during a town meeting Tuesday. Thang Nguyen, executive director of Boat People SOS, a national advocacy organization for Asian immigrants, said translators are needed to interpret claim forms and assist during training sessions.

Through a translation by David Pham, Hoang Huynh told Nguyen that she attended a training class that included a discussion of using a safety mask. Because she doesn't speak English, she said she didn't know when to use it.

"How am I supposed to know when to put the mask on?" Huynh said, through the translator.

During the test that's given after the training session, the Vietnamese students "pretty much copy off each other," she said.

Ray Melick, a BP PLC spokesman, said the company has Vietnamese translators available for training classes.

"They need to let us know in advance, and we can make a translator available," Melick said.

A Dauphin Island property owner and a commercial fisherman from Gulf Shores this week became the latest to file lawsuits against BP and other companies involved in the drilling project.

In a suit filed in Mobile's federal court, Hal G. Smith III accused the companies of negligence, and said that the spill has damaged the value of his property.

Waylon Callaway, meanwhile, alleged in his suit that the spill threatens his livelihood as a fisherman.

Rhon Jones, head of environmental law at the Beasley Allen law firm in Montgomery, said in a prepared statement that that fishing closures caused by the spill could not have come at a worse time.

"The commercial fishing industry is especially sensitive to fishing closures -- especially during the peak season of fishing, where they are just getting through the winter," he stated. "Considering how large and damaging this oil spill is, the effects on the fishing economy and marine life in general are going to be unprecedented. To many of these fishermen, there is real concern that their entire way of life has been compromised."

Reports on oil sightings around the area: Bayou La Batre and Coden: Local police said no oil reports were available Tuesday because bad weather kept boaters out of the water.

Dauphin Island: Public Works Superintendent Corey Moore said Tuesday he spotted no oil or tarballs. "We need people on these pretty beaches. It's been beautiful today," he said.

Orange Beach: The shoreline between the Cotton Bayou and Romar Beach access points in western Orange Beach saw heavy oil impacts, said Coastal Resources Manager Phillip West. "We definitely had our fair share of tar," he said. Cleanup crews had to stop working because of rain and lightening but efforts to remove the oil should resume in the morning, West said.

Gulf Shores: Some oil washed ashore at the city's main public beach, but city officials said that was the only landfall that they were aware of by Tuesday afternoon.

Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge and the Fort Morgan peninsula: There were no new reports of significant oil landfall Tuesday.

Magnolia Springs, Fish River, Weeks Bay, Fairhope, Daphne and Spanish Fort: There were no reports of oil by Tuesday afternoon.

As of Tuesday, 50 lawsuits had been filed against BP in Mobile's federal court. Across the nation, there have been 225 suits, including those by relatives of workers who died in the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources established a temporary no-wake zone in the Mississippi Sound.

In addition, more boom will be installed in four areas along the Mississippi coast -- Heron Bay, St. Louis Bay, Biloxi Bay and Pascagoula Bay -- in an effort to protect the coastline from possible oil contamination.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Marine Resources announced the move Tuesday, saying in a news release that the additional boom will augment what is already in place. The new boom will total 74,000 feet, according to the release.

Weather officials are watching a tropical wave located in the central Caribbean that some say has the potential to become the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

A local professor of meteorology at the University of South Alabama said it's still too early to say what effect the weather system could have on the Gulf of Mexico and efforts to cap the damaged well leaking millions of gallons of oil.

U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Tuesday officials would need "three to seven days" of lead time to unhook the riser pipe and evacuate the Deepwater Horizon site.

Also Tuesday, the cost of dealing with the oil spill was a hot topic during a Baldwin County Commission work session.

Commissioner Wayne Gruenloh again outlined his plan to force BP to reimburse the county for tax revenue lost because of the ongoing spill. If approved by commissioners, the plan would threaten to sue BP for damages if the company does not provide reimbursement in a timely manner.

Gruenloh, who faces a challenge in the July 13 runoff from Tucker Dorsey, said he's not insinuating that a lawsuit is imminent. County Clerk-Treasurer Kim Creech told commissioners in the work session that one of the county's claims has been approved by BP and a check could be cut soon. If so, it would be the first claim to be paid to the county, according to the commission.

As of June 6, the county had racked up $175,000 in costs for 4,000 man-hours related to the spill, according to the commission.